Sherlock's Burden
by alyssamichelle719
Summary: Serenity Holmes had never had it easy. Her dad was a drug addict and a detective - which basically meant he was almost never home. Then once they moved into a new flat and a John Watson moves in with them, everything changed. Serenity watched as her father became more human but still didn't acknowledge her. Can she and John make her dad open his eyes about his daughter?
1. Chapter 1

Serenity Holmes sighed as she moved about her room, rearranging the boxes of stuff that were all around her room. This being her first time moving, she didn't know what to do first. She heard her father moving around in the kitchen, probably playing with some of his lab set.

_Well if he can mess with his lab set, i'm going to play music while i unpack. _Serenity thought. She found her laptop from her backpack and plugged it in to the outlet next to her desk. She started it up and ignored all the notifications from her friends and started up her music on low. The sound of Little Mix going through her computer suddenly motivated her to keep going with her unpacking.

"Turn that down!" her father shouted from the other room.

"Its not even loud!" she shouted back as she put clothes into her closet. She heard her father groan from the kitchen as he got up. She heard him put his coat on and left her there, not telling her where he's going. She sighed and she continued to unpack her clothing. Once finished, she went onto the decorative things. Going through a bin of pictures, she stumbled upon a picture of her mother, her father, and herself when she was about seven years old. All three were actually smiling, her father actually looked happy. Serenity sighed as she placed the picture on her nightstand, remembering how things were before her mother died.

At the age of six, Serenity's mother was diagnosed with Stage 3 stomach cancer. She can remember it like it was yesterday, she had to stay with their old land-lady while her father took her mother to the hospital. Her father came back later that night, but her mother didn't.

_"Daddy, why didn't mommy come home?" six year old Serenity asked. Sherlock looked down at his daughter sympathetically. He picked her up and sat her down in his lap with a blanket around her, trying to get her to sleep. _

_"Mommy's not coming home for a while, she has to stay with her doctor." he replied back to her, trying to be as good as possible. He wasn't good with kids, but he observed Natalia's behaviors with her and followed what she did. _

_"Is she sick?" she asked him. _

_"Yes, she is. Very sick." Sherlock said back to her. He kept rubbing her back to try to get her to fall asleep. Sherlock heard her mumble a few things before she fell straight asleep. _

Serenity sighed as she finished up decorating with the little things she had. She grew hungry and decided to venture out of her room for a change. The rest of the flat looked just as horrible as her room did a few minutes ago. She didn't even want to bother going through the fridge to find something to eat. She heard light footsteps going up the stairs and turned around to see their landlady, Mrs Hudson.

"I heard you moving around up here, i thought i would check up on you. How about you come downstairs for a cuppa and some snacks?" Mrs Hudson said to her. Serenity nodded as they walked down the stairs together silently. Serenity wasn't much of a people person when it came to strangers, but she admired the woman's kindness. "Here you go dear, fresh cup." she said.

"Thank you, Mrs Hudson. I know you're not our housekeeper but thank you anyways." Serenity replied.

"Oh, for you its not a problem. Just keep reminding your father that i'm not _his _housekeeper." she explained, bringing out a box of crackers then a bowl of dip. She quickly dug in, but stopped herself once she realized what she was doing. "I need to remind him to feed you."

"Good luck." Serenity mumbled. They heard the front door open and close as they heard footsteps going up the stairs. "Dad?" Serenity shouted. No response.

"Sherlock?" Mrs Hudson asked. She sighed and both her and Mrs Hudson went up the stairs to see what was going on.

"You could have at least answered us-" Serenity stopped short as she noticed her father wasn't alone. Sherlock turned around and gave his daughter a look. She crossed her arms over her chest and gave the same look back to him. "Who's this?" she asked.

"John Watson. Our new flatmate." Sherlock said to her, taking his coat off and hanging it up.

"Since when do we do flatmates?" she asked.

"Since I decided it. Go unpack." he said to her.

"I'm done unpacking." Serenity explained to him. He sighed. "I've got something for you to do. The shopping. There's no food in the place and i'm not stealing from Mrs Hudson every day of the week."

"Just go to your room so i can talk to Doctor Watson without you being in the way." Sherlock shouted to her. Serenity walked to her room and grabbed her phone, some money, and her keys. She put on her jacket and organized herself, walking out of her room.

"I'll be back later." she said without another word. She angrily stormed out of her house and walked to the old Starbucks that was close to her old place. Serenity opened the door slowly and smiled a little walking in. She looked in her corner and walked to her seat, sitting across from her friend. "So what did yours do?" Serenity asked her friend.

"He's started a new line of killings." Allie sighed, taking a sip of her coffee. "Yours?" she asked.

"Apparently we've got a new flatmate." Serenity said to her. Allie gave her a funny look as Serenity laughed. "I know, my dad with a flatmate. He barely talks to me how the hell is going to handle a damn flatmate?!" she ranted.

"Your worse then me." Allie pointed out to her.

"Thank you for telling me that. As if i didn't know already." Serenity said, taking a sip from Allie's coffee.

"Get your own damn coffee!" Allie said to her. She rolled her eyes as she ignored the text message displayed on the screen from her father. "Wanna see how many messages it takes before he sends Lestrade or your Uncle?"

"You bet. Let's get out of here." Serenity said to her friend as they got up and left the coffee shop. The both of them walked together, arm in arm, laughing together and discussing their fathers. Both of them had fathers that could care less about them, so they become friends quickly.

"Shit, my dad wants me home." Allie said to her, looking at the message on her phone. Serenity shrugged her shoulders.

"Its fine. I should probably get home too. Getting a bit hungry." Serenity said to her friend. They hugged and Serenity walked her way back to Baker Street alone. She knew one of these days she wouldn't get so lucky to escape unharmed, but for now she just happened to get very, very lucky. Her father had enemies and she knew that one of these days she would just get taken. Her only thought was: would he actually go for her? Serenity stepped into her flat to the smell of Chinese takeout. Hungry beyond belief, she ran up the stairs and nearly knocked her father over when she reached the kitchen.

"Don't overexcite yourself." he said to her.

"Well you don't feed me and there's food. Of course i'm going to be happy!" Serenity said to him. Sherlock narrowed his eyes at his 16 year old daughter as she scooped up Chinese and plopped it down onto her plate. Serenity looked up and not only noticed her father giving her a dirty look, but John Watson giving her father a look too. "I guess i'm eating in my room..."

"No need. I'm going out." Sherlock said to them, getting his coat on and leaving. The second he stepped out of field of view, Serenity sighed, looking at John.

"You're in for a treat living with us." she explained to John as she ate.

"He's already taken me to a crime scene, to spy on somebody, and i've met his 'arch enemy'. Surely, it can't get worse." John said to her. Serenity rose her eyebrow up at 'arch enemy', but laughed realizing who it is.

"Sorry, arch enemy. He's so overdramatic." she laughed.

"Can you tell me something honestly?" John asked her. "I might be pushing my boundaries, but how is your relationship with your dad?" he asked her. Serenity looked at John and leaned back in her seat slightly, uneasy. "I'm sorry, forget it-"

"Well, if you're going to live with us, you should know." Serenity said to him. "I was six years old when my mom found out she had Stage 3 Stomach Cancer. After that he was mostly at the hospital keeping her company, and i would stay home and be babysat by our old landlady. She would even take me to school and make me my lunches. One day I was in school, it was our field day. They let us spend the day outside because it was the end of the year. Me and my friend Allie were playing with two other girls when the principal came over to get me. She said my dad was here to dismiss me. So i went with her and I saw my dad. His eyes were puffy around them and red, he had been crying. He brought me home and told me that my mom had died.

Later that night my landlady babysat me because my dad had some paperwork to fill out at the hospital. I hadn't fallen asleep, so I sat next to her on the couch and waited for him to come home. Eventually he did, but he looked different. His eyes were bloodshot red and he acted differently. The landlady took one look at him and ran to her flat. He didn't do much, he still picked me up and carried me to bed and everything. Thats when he started using... you know. He quit a few years ago after he almost lost me.

But he hasn't been the same with me since my mom died. He forgets about me, constantly. Since he rarely eats when one a case, he forgets to feed me and I end up stealing his wallet so i can get food. Then he grounds me." Serenity finished, her eyes welling with tears and crying. She felt like an idiot. If her dad were there, he would be calling her an idiot.

"I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up." John said to her, going over to the teenager to hug her.

"I hate him so much, but he's my father and he's all i've got. I hate him John. I don't want to be treated like a piece of dirt anymore." she said to the Doctor. "I want my mom back."

"I can't bring your mom back, but I promise you, that you won't get treated like dirt." he replied to her.

"Its late. I'm going to bed." Serenity said to him, getting up and retreating into her room silently. John cleaned up the Chinese as she walked away. Sherlock walked back into the flat. John looked up at him.

"Don't say anything." Sherlock said to him.

"Why? Just why?" John said, looking at his new flatmate. "She's done nothing. She's just a kid. Why not try to reach out to her?" he asked. Sherlock sat in his chair with blank expression. "I mean, all she wants is for you to actually care. She's not asking for undivided attention, just for you to remember she exists." John explained to him. "You're all she's got."

"You don't think I can't see that? Of course I do." Sherlock said to his flatmate. "She's to much like her mother. Facially she looks just like her. Her mother was the only person that didn't look at me as the freak and I lost that one person and she left me with a child that reminds me of her and that I didn't want to have in the first place."

"One of these days, you're going to wake up, and she's not going to be here. She'll either be gone or dead, and it will be your fault." John said to him. With that, he turned around and walked up the stairs to his room, leaving Sherlock to his thoughts.

In the silence, Sherlock could hear the muffled sobs of the only thing that brought light into his shitty life. But of course, the great Sherlock Holmes could never tell anybody that.


	2. Chapter 2

**thank you guys for all the great feedback on the story and for the follows! if you like this try checking out my other Sherlock story :)**

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Serenity's phone alarm went off at 5:45 sharp. She groaned in her bed as she rolled over to shut it off. If there was one thing she hated, it was getting up in the morning for school. She rolled out of bed slowly but surely and trudged her way to the bathroom, still half asleep and barely aware of her surroundings. Upon arriving in the bathroom she showered and prepared herself for the day, drying her hair out then going back to her room and picking out an outfit for the day. She was making her morning tea when she heard John coming down the stairs.

"What are you doing up this early?" Serenity asked John curiously.

"Heard you moving and couldn't fall back asleep. Its Monday, right?" he asked her. She nodded back to him as she prepared a small breakfast for herself.

"School... lovely, he didn't leave me any lunch money." She said to herself. She turned to John. "I had to ask, but do you have any money I can borrow? I'll have dad pay you back when I get home, he forgot to leave me lunch money." John nodded as he went back upstairs to go fetch some money for the teen. Serenity sighed as she drank her tea quietly and ate her toast for breakfast. When John reappeared she took the money from him and shoved it in her pocket. "Thank you John."

"Its not a problem." John said to her.

"Well, I better get going." Serenity said, picking up her backpack and slinging it over her shoulder. "Wouldn't want to be late." she added, walking out of the house quickly before the situation could get more awkward than what it already was. She walked down the street quietly, seeing as it was practically deserted. The only people who were out where people who were trying to go to work and others going to school. She wasn't worried about getting taken, seeing as she lived around the block from her school. She walked in school and waited where she usually did for Allie before they walked around. Serenity and Allie were nearly inseparable, they were attached at the hip and bonded because both of their fathers were jackasses and they both had lost their mothers.

"Hey." Allie said to her happily. They smiled and walked on. The two girls talked about any events that might have happened after they parted, and when the homeroom bell rang they went to homeroom and sat in their seats next to each other. They sat in the back away from everybody, by request of the teacher who favored them but disliked the conversations they had. Naturally the girls didn't mind that one bit, being away from everybody.

"Listen up everyone." Their teacher called from the front of the room. "We have a new student. This is Chase. Please make him comfortable and welcome him. The only seat available is in the back nearest the girls, have a seat there." Serenity shifted in her seat a little bit hearing those words and took a look up at the kid walking to the back of the room. Serenity's heart started beating half a beat faster at the sight of him, and she wondered why she was feeling like this.

She thought he was gorgeous. Chase had light brown hair that stopped just below the ear and what looked to be green eyes. She noticed his expression; he wasn't happy to be here. Nobody is happy to be in school, but she looked deeper into his eyes and saw sadness. Serenity was able to connect the dots quickly and concluded that he had moved multiple times and was not happy with the last one because he really liked the previous place. Noticing he was getting closer to the back she averted her eyes down to her notebook on her desk.

"Serenity... wake up girl." she heard coming from in front of her. She looked up and saw her other friend, Alex, waving his hand in her face. Alex was as gay as they came, and Serenity loved him like a brother. "No sleep?"

"No, I did." Serenity said to him. She quickly nodded her head towards Chase who was sitting next to her by now. Alex nodded and they high-fived.

"I hate you two." Allie said from next to Serenity.

"No you don't." Alex said, turning back around. Serenity rolled her eyes at him. "Don't hate 'cause you ain't, my friend." he continued. Serenity half-laughed and half-snorted at his remark, causing him to turn back around.

"Did you really just - Oh god Alex your so gay." Serenity said, trying to contain her laughter.

"Oh my gosh, we've had an epiphany. Allie, guess what - I am gay. Good job Serenity!" Alex said to him. Serenity leaned over and punched him in the shoulder as now they were all laughing. "Guess who didn't get her dad's detective observational skills!" he continued.

"Oh please, do you want me to say what happened to you last night?" Serenity asked. Alex shook his head no in fear and she laughed. "That's what i thought. Don't test me asshat." She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and looked down to a text from John.

**JOHN:** Drugs bust at your place. Your father's disappeared. I can't find him.

"Son of a bitch!" Serenity swore.

"Serenity Holmes, what have I told you about swearing out loud? And I see your phone, up here, _now._" her teacher said. She huffed and turned it off before getting up and handing it over to the teacher. "Your father or guardian has to come and pick it up this time after school. I'll be calling him also to tell him about your behavior."

"Good luck getting a hold of him. When you do, tell him he's an idiot." Serenity said, turning on her heel and walking back to her seat.

"What happened?" Alex asked.

"Drugs bust at my place. Dad's gone, flatmate can't find him. Oh, and did i mention that when she calls my dad he's going to fucking kill me?" Serenity said to them. "Why can't he just be normal?" Serenity asked, putting her head on her desk. "I hate my life. I wish my mom was alive."

"Well, you've got us." Alex said. Serenity nodded slowly and looked to the side of her. She noticed Chase staring at her sympathetically and immediately after that, she looked away.

**!#$%**

Serenity walked home after her detention slowly and alone. She had received one after she kept swearing yet again and was angry, and for her phone being taken. According to the office her father had been by to pick it up and had not seemed to happy about having to come back and get it. So she took her time going home. On the street corner sitting down she noticed Chase and slowed a little seeing him. He looked up at her slowly as she sat near him, not wanting to round the corner to her place.

"I hate my life too." he said. She looked at him slowly. "From earlier. You said you hated your life. I hate mine too."

"You've only moved, and that why you hate yours. My dad's an ass." she explained. "You've got no reason to hate yours. I can tell just by looking at you that you've got a good family and almost everything you could ask for. I have a father who was addicted to drugs because my mother died of cancer who also doesn't have a stable job to support us and has to ask my uncle for help. So yeah, who's got the worse life?" she said to him, tears rimming her eyes. She wiped them down quickly to avoid looking stupid. Serenity felt her arm being dragged away from her, and looked to see Chase writing down his cell phone number on her arm.

"When you get your phone back, text me sometime. I think we both need each other in a strange way. We both hate our lives and families. We need to stick together." he said to her as he wrote. Chase pulled her shirt sleeve down over his number and smiled.

"Thanks. It means a lot." she said to him. She sighed as she stood up. "I should probably get going. Don't want to make him more mad than what he already is." she waved to him and walked around the corner, seeing Scotland Yard cars outside of her flat. She groaned as she picked up the pace a little more and walked into her flat to see Lestrade sitting in her fathers chair.

"What's all this?" she asked.

"Drugs bust." Lestrade said to her. "Your fathers withholding evidence from the investigation. I'm trying to find it."

"He's been clean, why not just issue something else instead of a drugs bust?" Serenity asked him. Lestrade was about to answer her as he looked behind her. She turned around and saw John and her father walking in. She rolled her eyes at the men and turned on her heel and went into her room, putting her backpack down on her bed. She heard footsteps coming down the hallway and turned around to see her father in the doorway. She sighed and sat on her bed as he shuffled her phone out of his pocket and walked in and handed it to her.

"What? No speech, no yelling, no probation?" Serenity asked him. _Who is this guy and what the hell has he done with my father?_

"Not this time. You were only texting John and concerned about me. But the next time I have to stop my case because your teacher is calling about your behavior in class it will be no television, phone, or computer for a month. Do I make myself clear?" he said to her. Serenity nodded quickly. She was just about to plug her phone in when her father spoke up again. "And wash that ink off your arm." She looked at him and almost growled as he walked away. She put Chase's number into her phone and went into the bathroom and scrubbed the ink off her arm. Then figuring that she wouldn't be eating anything at home, she got some money from her dad's wallet and left. Not knowing where to go, she just kept walking. Until a cabbie pulled over and offered her a ride to the nearest Nandos.

"Thank you." she said to him.

"You're welcome sweetheart. Mind if I make a call?" he asked. Serenity shook her head and the cabbie pulled into a parking lot and pulled out a pink iPhone. Serenity looked at it oddly and watched as he dialed. "Sherlock Holmes. I was hoping you would pick up." Serenity's heart started beating a mile a minute. She was kidnapped by the murderer her father was chasing. "I have something, or rather someone, that belongs to you. We're to play a bit of a game. There will be two identical pills. We'll each take one. Except one has the potential to kill. Get here before she takes the pill and we'll be all set." the cabbie said to him, hanging up. Serenity tried to make a break for it, but the cabbie was actually quick and blind folded her and almost dragged her inside the building. When her blindfold was taken off her eyes, she was in a room that almost looked like a school or a community meeting center.

"Serenity Holmes. The daughter of Sherlock and Aubrey Holmes. The only child." he said to her. Serenity's eyes started to brim with tears.

"What do you want with me? I haven't done anything." she said to him.

"Exactly, you haven't. Its really him that i'm after. You see, he won't back off. Taking you would get him here and I knew it. Now, lets start the game." the cabbie replied to her. He took out two bottles, both with identical pills and placed them next to each other. "Now which pill is the right pill?" he asked her. She looked at them and took one out of its bottle, examining it. Then she put it back and did the same with the other. They were exactly the same. She started to cry more, not knowing what to do and wishing that her father would show up.

"Come on sweetheart. I'll take one with you. You just have to pick which one you're willing to take." the cabbie said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a gun. "This is just for some motivation." Serenity was shaking as she put the pill to her lips, but not before somebody burst into the room and a gunshot came through the window. She screamed and dropped the pill to the ground as she jumped back. Serenity ignored the conversation between her father and the cabbie as she cried, but soon enough he went over to her and hugged her.

"You're fine Serenity. You're okay." her father said to her. She cried as she nodded and he kept holding her there. Sherlock was thanking God in his head that he arrived there in time, because he knew that she would have taken the pill and that she would have taken the wrong one and she wouldn't have cared if she died or not. He couldn't afford to lose another loved one.


End file.
